20+ Years of Design, Technology & More
20+ Years of Design, Technology & More
If you’ve been managing or using Autodesk products for a few years, you’ve probably cracked open a CER file at some point. Customer Error Reporting is Autodesk’s built-in crash reporting system, and it’s been around for a long time. When…
Mike Riddle wrote a CAD program in his spare time and became one of the most important — and most contested — figures in AutoCAD’s origin story. Here is the complete account, including the parts he would tell differently than Autodesk would.
A simple tip from Robin Capper can significantly improve Civil 3D and AutoCAD performance: dock the command line to the bottom of the screen. This change reduces cursor lag and instability by minimizing processing competition on the CPU and streamlining window management, potentially leading to a smoother user experience.
One of the simplest and most effective things you can do to maintain a stable, high-performing CAD workstation is to reboot regularly and keep your machine current with IT and hardware updates. AutoCAD, Civil 3D and other CAD applications accumulate…
Autodesk's journey from a scrappy startup to a global powerhouse reshaped industries with its pioneering design software. Now I’m
Offering some of my Autodesk and AutoCAD artifacts.
The post discusses the challenges of sending and receiving transmittals in Civil 3D and AutoCAD, highlighting common issues like missing external references and font conflicts. eTransmit simplifies this by packaging all dependencies accurately. It provides options for setup, packaging formats, and paths, ensuring recipients receive functional files. A checklist for effective usage is included.
If you have Autodesk Desktop Connector (ACC Docs – changing to Forma brand) installed – and in 2026 you almost certainly do – stop using the built-in AutoCAD and Civil 3D Reference Manager. Reference Explorer is sitting right there in…
Civil 3D and AutoCAD's performance issues primarily stem from predictable sequential math requirements that multithreading disrupts. Unlike parallel tasks like rendering, CAD calculations must remain consistent, as dependencies affect results. Thus, single-core CPU speed is crucial, while more cores benefit background tasks but won't resolve geometry-related delays in CAD operations.
Serious CAD issues, particularly in Civil 3D, stem from simple mistakes, such as using incompatible software versions. Mixing versions leads to proxy objects, causing potential data corruption and performance degradation. To maintain data integrity, projects should consistently use one version throughout their lifecycle and confirm version alignment with all collaborators before file exchanges.
From CAD to cloud and AI, Autodesk's journey is a testament to evolving with technology while maintaining its core mission: empowering creativity and design.